Joby Aviation has been in the news a lot lately, especially since they just hit a significant milestone with their S4 electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft. On April 22, 2025, they successfully completed their first crewed transition flights, moving from vertical takeoff to forward cruise flight and back to vertical landing, using their tilt-propeller eVTOL prototype at their test facility in Marina, California.
This is a big deal because Joby is the first to do this with a tilt-propeller design, where the same six propellers work for both vertical takeoff and cruising, unlike competitors like Archer Aviation, who use different propellers for each (lift-plus-cruise designs) and have only done uncrewed tests so far.
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Joby conducted seven crewed transition flights over the past week with three different test pilots, including their chief test pilot, James “Buddy” Denham, using their latest aircraft (tail number N544JX). The process involved a vertical takeoff, climbing, accelerating to wingborne flight, and then returning for a vertical landing.
Denham noted that the transition, one of aerospace’s toughest challenges, felt like an “everyday task” thanks to their design, which builds on over 40,000 miles of test flights, including hundreds of remotely piloted transitions since 2017 and over 100 crewed hover flights.
Achieving this milestone is hugely significant for Joby. It not only demonstrates the high level of confidence we have in the performance of the aircraft as we prepare for commercial service in Dubai, it also paves the way to starting TIA flight testing with FAA pilots onboard. We have taken a very methodical approach to achieving this long-planned milestone, with an immense amount of testing, both in the air and on the ground, helping form a solid foundation that allowed us to move from one historic flight to routine pilot-on-board transitions almost overnight,” said Didier Papadopolous, President of Aircraft OEM at Joby.
[Source]
